Mech3 Multiplayer weapons strategy primer
Mar 11, 2017 15:18:46 GMT
AncientxFreako and herby like this
Post by AncientxFreako on Mar 11, 2017 15:18:46 GMT
The other night we played some games and Darth Paul took a Madcat D varient, and mentioned that he had difficulty dealing with streak missiles. So, this gave me the thought that perhaps a primer on how to handle the various weapons might be handy coming from a 'Mech3 veteran such as myself 
Streak Missiles:
Streaks are the most versatile of the missiles and can be the most deadly. They travel at a medium velocity so that they for the most part cannot be avoided. They do have one weakness though (inside their range that is)...and that is that their turning speed makes them inaccurate within about 100 meters or so. So...to defend against them, it's best to try and stay within a close combat distance with your enemy which resembles roughly the radius of the average circle of death. If you are within the radius of the circle of death, streaks can be useless. They don't hit if you use missile lock, and they are hard to "lag shoot" without missile lock because they are so slow. There are other defensive measures you can use against them that require skill and are for advanced pilots. To witness an experienced vet defend against a mech with streaks is an awesome sight. They will stay within the circle and you will see the missiles doing crazy circles around both combatants until they expire. Of course this is all when using a 'mech that doesn't have jump-jets, and jump-jets create a whole new skill-set against streaks.
How to use them? As your opponent tries to close with you, run away from them at ever changing angles so that you maintain optimum distance for them to work well, while moving your lag-point so the enemy can't get a good lag-shot on you. In other words you can't just run away in a straight line or they'll find your lag and hit you. This is how you use streaks in the event of a 1v1. If you're approaching a battle group, circle the battle at about a 300 to 400 meter radius from your chosen target and, once you get a lock twist your torso away and point your reticule upwards to the sky and fire. This is called "slinging streaks". The missiles will fly up and make a circular arc and hit your target most times right on the top of their head/torso, and will get the most damage. There are numerous ways to sling streak missiles and you should experiment and discover them yourself, but always remember the basics of maintaining enough distance for them to be useful.
ERPPC's
In the weapons mod ERPPC's are canon in that they only do 15% damage within 100 meters..they have a minimum range. To defend against them try to get and stay close to your enemy. To use them to their full potential stay at range and snipe...but if you can't and you're in the circle of death try and save your shots until you're beyond 100 meters. Eventually you'll get a feel for that distance.
Other than the statements above, there don't seem to be many problems using them with the new guys. They're pretty much the same in multiplayer as they are in singleplayer, so just add your lag-shooting to what you already do and you'll do fine. Heavy PPC's also have minimum range, but they pack more punch and cause heat shutdowns. Snub-nose PPC's do about 5 points less damage than ERPPC's but are lighter and don't have a minimum range...so you can take them to a close brawl. Their velocity is less as well, but that doesn't make much difference when you shoot them. Their range is about 480 meters...same as streaks incidentally.
Long Range Missiles
LRM's were a little more agile before the mod and this made them kindof a "noobish" weapon back in the day. They can be very powerful, and they can gyro mechs if used in large enough numbers, as some of the new players have been discovering (and enjoying I might add). I took away only a smidge of their turning capability and the reason was that they were taking out enemy legs too often. This was not a good thing, because being able to dodge missiles is a unique thing in 'MechWarrior 3. Believe it or not, there's a canon explanation for why missiles in the battletech universe are not as pin-point accurate as they are in our reality but it escapes me at the moment. Perhaps Nynx remembers. Anyway, disabling a mech's legs with lrms only made the weapon more noobish than it already was so I made them fly a little straighter. This means you have to pick your shots, time your shots, know when your target isn't paying attention to you...is distracted by someone else...time their circular direction and let them fly at just the right moment. It's a skill you can learn and practice.
Basically, their long range means that they have to have a drawback in battletech, and that means less maneuverability. SRM's have more punch, do more damage per ton, and have more splash damage, but are very short ranged. Give and take.
When used with Artemis FCS LRM's gain a little more maneuverability, hop over hills, and are more accurate when they hit. Artemis also shortens missile lock. In this game Artemis FCS only works when loaded in the same space as the missiles are loaded that you want to use them for. In other words, if you put an LRM10 in each arm and each torso and load an Artemis in the left torso, it will only guide the LRM10 in that same torso, and not the others. IF you pack the LRM's all into one torso with an Artemis, it will guide all those LRM's.
The amount of LRM's that will gyro most 'mechs is roughly 40, depending on how many AMS your salvo has to deal with. A Madcat Primary with its dual LRM 20's can usually gyro any 'mech not loading AMS and is less than 90 tons. Many of my stock configs, both new and re-done old ones, have AMS, so in stock matches LRM gyro is a rare thing. Back in the day when everyone did whatever they could to win LRM gyros happened all the time. You can actually trip someone by shooting the ground with enough LRM's if you lag-shoot them just right, but be careful not to gyro yourself in the process. Some of these guys may have hacked their LRM 20's, but that can't be proven. I always wondered why I could never do it. They would say it was their connection and their PC speed. I don't know. After modding the game I truly have to wonder. My mod raises the gyro on all LRM's just enough so that everyone is on a level playing field. I didn't over-do it, just raised it a hair. The presence of AMS nullifies it anyway.
The Avatar B variant was good for this, but its follow up weapons were very limited. I Played with a guy back then who was a master of gyro'ing with his Madcat Primary; he would lag-shoot the ground and knock you down, then he would Alpha your back as you tried to get up and you'd be dead before you could stand. He was a tough guy to beat in stock.
Lasers
Lasers in 'Mech3 have always been overpowered, but originally they were canon. It wasn't the Dev team's fault that they were overpowered, their original canon battletech damage values make them that way. In 'Mech IV Vengeance microsoft developers decided to deal with this issue by doing the strict "medium is half of a large, and small is half of a medium" for damage. My opinion of it is simple: While I agreed that the canon lasers damage made ERLarges silly to use based on practical experience using them in 'Mech3, where you could group 6 er mediums and do way more damage than groups of er larges...which were too hot to even use in groups of 4 even on ice, I also felt that the Vengeance concept of "medium is half large" etc, was too under-powered. So, for the sake of finding the happy medium and trying to keep the "Mech 3 feel" and tradition, I carefully through trial and error found a sweet spot for damage for all the lasers. It was AFTER this that I decided to change them to the "damage over time" concept that MWO uses, and so I had to make some readjustments. Now I think it's the ultimate for lasers in 'Mech3. They're still powerful enough and balanced thanks to the many reviews from players (hint: Herby) but they require a new skill to master that didn't exist previously, which makes them less dominating.
Now to practical use in multiplayer:
Stock--while this is always up to the player, always try to group them together with the intent of using them within the range of the shortest range laser in the group. Example, Madcat Primary...put the 2 er meds and the 2 er larges in 1 group on medium heat maps, but separate them on hot maps. When using the Prime with all the lasers in 1 group, use your LRMs exclusively for long range attacks, and your laser group and your machine gun/pulse group for close in brawling (circle fights). You can group your pulse lasers with the lasers and leave the machine guns as a "cool down" group as well, just make sure to take your finger off the trigger once the lasers have fired so the pulse lasers don't over heat you. The Madcat Prime is a match for the Madcat D when piloted by someone who knows what they're doing. It's a versatile mech variant.
Then there's the Blackhawk Primary~~all lasers! If the map is cool enough, or if there's enough water, you can make 2 groups of 6 er meds and you can quite possible dominate the game (like Stoney) BUT--the drawback is Blackhawks legs are easy to damage, and all the lasers are in the arms which can get blown off easily.
The mod has other newer stock configs that have lasers to play around with, but the two 'mechs mentioned above give the 2 basic strategic ideas to build upon.
Lag-shooting lasers in the mod: The key difference being the "damage over time" has quite an impact on how you play and lag-shoot. While some find it to be a more difficult weapon than before, in all honesty this added feature makes it a little easier in that when you hold down the fire button and move your reticule while shooting you have a better chance of finding your enemy's lag-point.
'Nuff said.
FLAMERS
....Uhh, I don't wanna talk about it!
To be continued..
Streak Missiles:
Streaks are the most versatile of the missiles and can be the most deadly. They travel at a medium velocity so that they for the most part cannot be avoided. They do have one weakness though (inside their range that is)...and that is that their turning speed makes them inaccurate within about 100 meters or so. So...to defend against them, it's best to try and stay within a close combat distance with your enemy which resembles roughly the radius of the average circle of death. If you are within the radius of the circle of death, streaks can be useless. They don't hit if you use missile lock, and they are hard to "lag shoot" without missile lock because they are so slow. There are other defensive measures you can use against them that require skill and are for advanced pilots. To witness an experienced vet defend against a mech with streaks is an awesome sight. They will stay within the circle and you will see the missiles doing crazy circles around both combatants until they expire. Of course this is all when using a 'mech that doesn't have jump-jets, and jump-jets create a whole new skill-set against streaks.
How to use them? As your opponent tries to close with you, run away from them at ever changing angles so that you maintain optimum distance for them to work well, while moving your lag-point so the enemy can't get a good lag-shot on you. In other words you can't just run away in a straight line or they'll find your lag and hit you. This is how you use streaks in the event of a 1v1. If you're approaching a battle group, circle the battle at about a 300 to 400 meter radius from your chosen target and, once you get a lock twist your torso away and point your reticule upwards to the sky and fire. This is called "slinging streaks". The missiles will fly up and make a circular arc and hit your target most times right on the top of their head/torso, and will get the most damage. There are numerous ways to sling streak missiles and you should experiment and discover them yourself, but always remember the basics of maintaining enough distance for them to be useful.
ERPPC's
In the weapons mod ERPPC's are canon in that they only do 15% damage within 100 meters..they have a minimum range. To defend against them try to get and stay close to your enemy. To use them to their full potential stay at range and snipe...but if you can't and you're in the circle of death try and save your shots until you're beyond 100 meters. Eventually you'll get a feel for that distance.
Other than the statements above, there don't seem to be many problems using them with the new guys. They're pretty much the same in multiplayer as they are in singleplayer, so just add your lag-shooting to what you already do and you'll do fine. Heavy PPC's also have minimum range, but they pack more punch and cause heat shutdowns. Snub-nose PPC's do about 5 points less damage than ERPPC's but are lighter and don't have a minimum range...so you can take them to a close brawl. Their velocity is less as well, but that doesn't make much difference when you shoot them. Their range is about 480 meters...same as streaks incidentally.
Long Range Missiles
LRM's were a little more agile before the mod and this made them kindof a "noobish" weapon back in the day. They can be very powerful, and they can gyro mechs if used in large enough numbers, as some of the new players have been discovering (and enjoying I might add). I took away only a smidge of their turning capability and the reason was that they were taking out enemy legs too often. This was not a good thing, because being able to dodge missiles is a unique thing in 'MechWarrior 3. Believe it or not, there's a canon explanation for why missiles in the battletech universe are not as pin-point accurate as they are in our reality but it escapes me at the moment. Perhaps Nynx remembers. Anyway, disabling a mech's legs with lrms only made the weapon more noobish than it already was so I made them fly a little straighter. This means you have to pick your shots, time your shots, know when your target isn't paying attention to you...is distracted by someone else...time their circular direction and let them fly at just the right moment. It's a skill you can learn and practice.
Basically, their long range means that they have to have a drawback in battletech, and that means less maneuverability. SRM's have more punch, do more damage per ton, and have more splash damage, but are very short ranged. Give and take.
When used with Artemis FCS LRM's gain a little more maneuverability, hop over hills, and are more accurate when they hit. Artemis also shortens missile lock. In this game Artemis FCS only works when loaded in the same space as the missiles are loaded that you want to use them for. In other words, if you put an LRM10 in each arm and each torso and load an Artemis in the left torso, it will only guide the LRM10 in that same torso, and not the others. IF you pack the LRM's all into one torso with an Artemis, it will guide all those LRM's.
The amount of LRM's that will gyro most 'mechs is roughly 40, depending on how many AMS your salvo has to deal with. A Madcat Primary with its dual LRM 20's can usually gyro any 'mech not loading AMS and is less than 90 tons. Many of my stock configs, both new and re-done old ones, have AMS, so in stock matches LRM gyro is a rare thing. Back in the day when everyone did whatever they could to win LRM gyros happened all the time. You can actually trip someone by shooting the ground with enough LRM's if you lag-shoot them just right, but be careful not to gyro yourself in the process. Some of these guys may have hacked their LRM 20's, but that can't be proven. I always wondered why I could never do it. They would say it was their connection and their PC speed. I don't know. After modding the game I truly have to wonder. My mod raises the gyro on all LRM's just enough so that everyone is on a level playing field. I didn't over-do it, just raised it a hair. The presence of AMS nullifies it anyway.
The Avatar B variant was good for this, but its follow up weapons were very limited. I Played with a guy back then who was a master of gyro'ing with his Madcat Primary; he would lag-shoot the ground and knock you down, then he would Alpha your back as you tried to get up and you'd be dead before you could stand. He was a tough guy to beat in stock.
Lasers
Lasers in 'Mech3 have always been overpowered, but originally they were canon. It wasn't the Dev team's fault that they were overpowered, their original canon battletech damage values make them that way. In 'Mech IV Vengeance microsoft developers decided to deal with this issue by doing the strict "medium is half of a large, and small is half of a medium" for damage. My opinion of it is simple: While I agreed that the canon lasers damage made ERLarges silly to use based on practical experience using them in 'Mech3, where you could group 6 er mediums and do way more damage than groups of er larges...which were too hot to even use in groups of 4 even on ice, I also felt that the Vengeance concept of "medium is half large" etc, was too under-powered. So, for the sake of finding the happy medium and trying to keep the "Mech 3 feel" and tradition, I carefully through trial and error found a sweet spot for damage for all the lasers. It was AFTER this that I decided to change them to the "damage over time" concept that MWO uses, and so I had to make some readjustments. Now I think it's the ultimate for lasers in 'Mech3. They're still powerful enough and balanced thanks to the many reviews from players (hint: Herby) but they require a new skill to master that didn't exist previously, which makes them less dominating.
Now to practical use in multiplayer:
Stock--while this is always up to the player, always try to group them together with the intent of using them within the range of the shortest range laser in the group. Example, Madcat Primary...put the 2 er meds and the 2 er larges in 1 group on medium heat maps, but separate them on hot maps. When using the Prime with all the lasers in 1 group, use your LRMs exclusively for long range attacks, and your laser group and your machine gun/pulse group for close in brawling (circle fights). You can group your pulse lasers with the lasers and leave the machine guns as a "cool down" group as well, just make sure to take your finger off the trigger once the lasers have fired so the pulse lasers don't over heat you. The Madcat Prime is a match for the Madcat D when piloted by someone who knows what they're doing. It's a versatile mech variant.
Then there's the Blackhawk Primary~~all lasers! If the map is cool enough, or if there's enough water, you can make 2 groups of 6 er meds and you can quite possible dominate the game (like Stoney) BUT--the drawback is Blackhawks legs are easy to damage, and all the lasers are in the arms which can get blown off easily.
The mod has other newer stock configs that have lasers to play around with, but the two 'mechs mentioned above give the 2 basic strategic ideas to build upon.
Lag-shooting lasers in the mod: The key difference being the "damage over time" has quite an impact on how you play and lag-shoot. While some find it to be a more difficult weapon than before, in all honesty this added feature makes it a little easier in that when you hold down the fire button and move your reticule while shooting you have a better chance of finding your enemy's lag-point.
'Nuff said.
FLAMERS
....Uhh, I don't wanna talk about it!
To be continued..
just checking in